


Partnership

by starwalker42



Series: Sortis (orig. on FF.Net) [6]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Banter, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:15:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25449718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starwalker42/pseuds/starwalker42
Summary: Mulder's beginning to realise how much he values Scully's presence.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Series: Sortis (orig. on FF.Net) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745140
Kudos: 16





	Partnership

J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING, AUGUST 1993

Scully was falling to sleep. Whether she hadn't eaten or had merely skipped her coffee this morning, her attention wasn't what it should've been. Every so often her head would droop a little, and Mulder would watch with a smile as she snapped alert again several seconds afterwards.

Mulder didn't know why, or when, he started watching her in these meetings, surrounded by other agents in more respectable positions than them, listening to the guy at the front like they were back at Quantico having a lecture.

The man- Mulder thinks his name's Hudson, but he wasn't exactly paying attention at the start- was currently explaining 'efficiency' and 'the benefits of preparation', but his voice was a drone at the back of Mulder's mind as he increasingly lost focus on his notes and watched the back of Scully's head, studying her posture for the tell-tale signs of her obvious exhaustion.

The meeting this morning had started at nine, and he'd been running late, so they hadn't exchanged a word so far today. He'd rang her on Saturday morning about a file, but other than that they hadn't spoken for almost 48 hours.

He didn't know when he starting paying attention to _that_ , either. Or when it had begun to matter.

"Hey, Spooky."

The man at the front clicked his fingers. Mulder blinked and jerked back to the room just in time to hear the other agents' snickers.

"Head in the clouds?"

Before Mulder could formulate a reply, someone behind him commented not-so-quietly, "Up in the sky with his aliens."

More laughter.

He was used to this by now. Normally he didn't even bother to shut them up, just sat there and took it as it was. Sometimes he'd try a joke or some wry reply, but today he just didn't have the effort. As the rest of the room quietened down, he glanced up at Scully, to find her looking back at him.

Before she turned back to the front, he saw the unreadable expression on her face and noticed the way her pencil was tapping on the desk.

xXx

"Ever heard of the Virginian Ennui Monster? Apparently it makes its victims so bored they tear their own eyes out."

Scully shot him a look as she hung up her coat. "No. Why?"

"I'm pretty sure we've got one working in the human resources department."

She tried her best to look disapproving, but but he saw her lips quirk upwards for a second. "I'm not sure Agent Hudson would be gratified with your assessment."

"What did he want to talk to you about?"

Instead of answering, she walked through to the side room to deposit her bag. A pause, but still no reply.

"Scully?"

Mulder heard her sigh.

"He wanted to let me know that regardless of your _lack of esteem_ in the Bureau, my career record is as yet undamaged and has had little impact on his treatment of my case reports and expenses."

"So what did you say?"

Before meeting Dana Scully, Mulder had never thought it possible that someone's smile could actually outshine the sun. Now he understood the poetry.

"I told him to stick his lack of esteem up his chauvinistic ass."

Sometimes he was glad he met her. Sometimes? Okay, a lot of times.

She was smart, funny, witty, and for whatever reason she even seemed to like him. She'd already saved his ass countless times, and had stopped him from charging off into danger even more. Without her, he would probably have been out of the Bureau within a matter of months. And even if she _was_ sent down to debunk his work, to get rid of him... if anything, she had become his closest friend in the building (not that that was saying much), and, more importantly, he trusted her.

He'd known for a long time that it didn't take much for her to get riled up, but it was usually him she was getting angry at. Never before had she actually defended him to one of the guys upstairs. Mulder wasn't entirely sure what that meant.

"Why did he call you out like that, anyway?" Scully asked, taking a seat on the workbench that ran across the back of the room. She seemed unfazed by what she'd just said, like it wasn't anything new.

It hit Mulder that maybe it wasn't.

"They're all part of the conspiracy against me?"

He expected her to roll her eyes or just sigh, but instead she gave him a teasing smile.

"You mean the one I'm part of?"

"Something like that, yeah."

He could feel himself grinning back. Damn it. He's not supposed to like people.

She nudged his chair with her foot. "What's our next case, Spooky?"

"I still maintain we should launch an investigation into Agent Hudson."

She just laughed. "Maybe next week."


End file.
